Grain-car door.



T. GBRDBM G.. E. WILKEN.

GRAIN QAR DOORA APPLICATION FILED PEB.28,190B.

Patented 001520,19@

'IHEODOR GERDES AND GEORGE Ef WILKEN, OF DANFORTH, ILLINOIS.'

GRAIN-CAB noon.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application med February 28, 190B. loria! No.- 418,294.

Patented Oct. 20, 1908.

To "all whom it may concern: v

Be it'knownthat we, THEODQEGERDES and GEORGE E. W1-tiran, citizens ofy the United States, residing at Danforth, in the and which can be manufactured .and sold at aI 4small cost.

vcounty of Iroquois and State of Illinois,`have invented new and useful Improvements in Grain-Car Doorsjof which the following is a specification.

The object of this invention is to provide a novel construction of grain-ear door, which` shall be simple in construction, easy to operate, and positive and certain in operation,

The invention has reference to vthat class of rain-cardoor in which theuse vof bolts an analogous locking-devices is dispensed with, and is characterlzed by the fact that, when in closed position, the door lies Hush with the side of the car, and, when the locking and unlocking lever is actuated to open the door, the door isl moved first bodil away fromthe same plane as the-side of t e car, when it can either be swun open on its rear pivot, whereby the door, w en open, will be at an angle to the lane of the side of the car,

or itV can be slidah y moved rearward, whereby the door, when open, will occupy a p0sition in a plane parallel to the side. the ear, or it can be simultaneously swung u on its rear pivot and slid rearward, as may e preferred to meet the wishes ofthe operator and to su't ythe `varying exigeneies of' the partieula situation: Thus, when a Wa on is backed up to the door in the side of t e car,

, to load fre' ht thereon, or to unload freight therefrom, 1t will not be desirable to swing the door open on its pivot, since the wagon would obstruct the path of movement of the door. 'In such a case, the door can be slid back or rearward 'in a plane arallel Aand in o juxtaposition to the sideof t e ear.`

With these objects in view, and others appearing as the specification proceeds, our invention consists of the novel construction, combination and arrangement-of parts, as hereinafter fully described in the specifica# tion, summed up` in the claims, and illustrated in the drawings.

In the drawings, which, for illustrative purposes, show one forni of embodiment of our invention, capable of carrying into effect the broad princi les of the invention (it bcing understood t at other forms of embodi ment may be adopted without departing` from the spirit of the invention): Figure 1 is crum oint at a,6 is alever a7 whic 7 a side elevationof a fragmentary sectionof a railroad freight-car, or the like, embodying our invention; Fig. 2 is a section ,on the linev 2-2, Fig. I; and Fig. 3 is a detail View of certain parts of our invention shown in `Fig. 1. "Now, referring in detail to the drawings, A

represents, in thls instance, the side of a raila2 and preferabl hinged thereto, as 'at a4.

This supplemental door may be looked or held closed, when desired, by any suitable or appropriate locking means, as a5. The supp emental door, if provided, may be appropriately used when loading the car with Grain, the latter being shot, by gravity, or the like, through the open supplemental door, by means of a conveyer-spout, or chute (not shown), o r the like; or. the-door may,'un'-Pr certain conditions, be used to ventllatethe car while in transit, or at other times, or used for 'any other purpose for which it may be found suitable. r o

Carried by the door. and havinlg its' fulprovi ed Withan': aperture aa toward its outer end, its inner end carryin two arms a", a?. y Pivotally connected to t e free end of each of these arms is one end of a link al, thel other endof which is pivotall connected with the hook portion a of a ro or axle auf provided, at each end, with a crank a (clearly shown in Fig. 3), carrying a roller or wheel a, Working on the exterior of the ear side-frame and traversing, in this instance, a

'path of movement in proximity to the upper and lower edges of the o ening o. The rods may be.,

a12 Work in bearings in t e ends of Ithe door a?, and both of the rods may carry, at their ends, rollers or wheels a, or (as wehave illus trated in the drawings), the forward rod, only, may be provided with these rollers and the rear rod maly be rotatably mounted in )own end blocks (1,15 (s in dotted lines in Fig. 1 and in full lines in Fig.' 3). In tlus 1nstance, we have conveniently provided a strip of suitable material al, such as tin, iron,

steel, or the like, bent so aste inclose the rods a and the vertical ends of the door a2,

'Secured in any suitable manner longitudinally of the exterior face of thel side frameof .l the carfa're two strips 0,17, a of suitable ma.- terial, such, as ironz tin, steel,vor the like, and

-fzontal wall w12, terminating in a longitudimovement. y s1t1on, the rollers a14 are ust between the having each a longitudinally-extending, horinally-extending, flange a, between which and the'side of the car'work the rollers 0.14,

v a1* and blocks a15,a15, as-shownin-dotted lines Vin Fig. 1, these strips, with'their walls a1? and flanges a, constituting 'uide-ways for the rollers-or wheels a and locks-a15 in their When the door is in 'closed poflan e a1?, and the side of t e car but, when the ever a7 is operated, said rollers move away from said flange to the points d and e,

`whereby the door may be rotated or swung said'aperture temporarily to ock, when desired, the lever against accidental movement;

but it is entirely obvious that a padlock, or

. tion and use where it may analogous means, may be employed in lieu of the pin. As padlocks and pms are common. and wellknown expedients, we have not deemed it necessary to illustrate them in the' drawings. 1

While our invention has been shown as applied in use to a' grain-car-door, it is to be understood that our invention is not limited to` such use, 4as it may be ap lied to any situa-y ge found efficacious or desirable, as, for instance, in a barn, store, or the' like.

From the above description, taken in connection with the drawings, it is believed that the operation of our device i's ap arent; but` briefly stated, it may be describe as' follows:

` The door is shown in Fig. 1 as in its closed apart.

' position.

In this position, the rollersl a, (L14 are disposed between the flanges (L18 of the guide-ways and the side of the car, and the lever is `shown atthe limit of its upward range of movement. To open the'door, the

operator pulls down upon the lever, which Thismoves on its' fulcrum ory pivot a, downward movement of the lever rocks the links (L10 in opposite directions and farther` The result is that the hooks 0,11, a11V are pushed backward onto theside walls) of the opening a, at the points b and c, and continued movement of the lever will cause the hooks 0,11, 0,11 to ride upon top lof the edgeslb and c, the rollers a, 0,14 and the blocks a15,^a15

opposite directions. e'rollers 1a11, a are t us pushed be ond the forward e'nds of the' flanges a1, to t e points-dp, e; whereupo at this period of the operation, the. door, which had previously been flush with the exterior surface off the car side-frame A, has been sliding or moving awalyl'lfrom each other in moved. bodily out ofthe opening a and into a planeparallel to the exterior surface of the car-frame A. -In this osition, the car-door occupies a position wit its inner surface a2 just out of contact with the exterior surface' a21 of the car-frame A. Since the rollers a,

a are, as stated, now removed from a posi.l tion between thel flange 0,18 and the side of the car, the door may obviously be swung outward on its ,pivot (the rear rod a, which turns in its bearings in the blocks (L15, w15); or, l -if desired, thedoor may be swung outward l lsomewhat andi then ushed rearward, the blocks a15, (L15 sliding 1n the guide-ways; or

the door may not be swung outward at all,

but simply ushed back, the rollers or wheels a, @1.4, and' locks a, a15 sliding in the guide` ways.

.the'salient features ofour invention, it will be recognized that we have devised a structure which embodies a maximum of sim licity with aminimum degree of effort and la or t'o operate that the doorl is operated by a sin le lever; that the door may be moved longitu inally of the car, or ma be swung outward at an angle to the side o thecar, or. may be simultaneously swungl outward vand moved longitudinally; that the parts of the device,

being few and simple, are not likely tovget From the foregoing detailed analysisl of out of order; and that the .device may beI manufactured and sold at Ya very Inodergqme` oost.

Having .thus fully described our iventi0i1 what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters-Patentis: I

The combination withthe side of a freightcar having an openingv therethrough, of a door adaptdto close said opening, -a lever pivoted to said doorvandl provided at its inner end with two armsfa rotatable rod oarmembers ada ted totravel on the exterior surface of sai car, two links, each pivotally connectedto one of said rods and to one of saidarms, and .twoguide-strips extending ried by said door, at eachof the two side ends thereof, and carrying on its ends slidable,

lon itudinallyofl the exterior ofthe car, and

eac com rising a base secured to said car, a

horizonta wall, and a longitudinally-extendmg 'flange on to of which horizontal wall and' between said longitudinally-extending flange andthe side of the car said slidable members work, the front end of said longitudinally-extending liange terminating flu-sh with the front pair of slidable members when the door is completely closed.

In testimony whereof', we hereunto aflix our signatures, in the presence oftwo witnesses.

.THEODOR GERDES. GEORGE E. WILKEN. Witnesses:

WARREN BAILEY,

ALBERT C. BAILEY. 

